His desperation to return home was so high that a 40-year-old man, working as supervisor at a construction site in Karnataka’s Davanagere, undertook an arduous journey spanning 2,000km to reach his home town in Loni, Ghaziabad, during the nationwide lockdown. He walked some of the distance, sought lifts from several truckers, before walking some more. It took Ram Vir almost 10 days to traverse the distance Karnataka to Ghaziabad.
He was not the only one unable to resist the call of home. Nehruddin, who works in Hyderabad, Telangana, reached his home town in Ghaziabad after traversing a distance of over 1,500km in about 14 days.
While Ram Vir reached Ghaziabad on April 26, Nehruddin reached home on April 27. Both men are now in a 14-day quarantine at Tronica City, health department officials said.
“I had gone to Karnataka about a month and a half ago but all my work was cancelled after the lockdown was announced. It was on April 17 I decided to return home, but there were no buses or trains running. So I decided to take lifts from trucks and also walk as much as I could. I reached Loni on the evening of April 26 after entering NCR from Faridabad. I then crossed over to Delhi and from there to Ghaziabad,” Ram Vir, a resident of Jawahar Nagar in Loni, said.
The man said he sought rides from about six or seven truckers he met on the way. The driver asked him to pose as a cleaner.
{{/usCountry}}The man said he sought rides from about six or seven truckers he met on the way. The driver asked him to pose as a cleaner.
{{/usCountry}}“I chose trucks which had only one or two persons, besides the driver, as such vehicles are not stopped by police during the checks. I travelled through Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh, before finally reaching Faridabad in trucks. Some truckers, in order to avoid police checks, asked me to pose as a conductor/cleaner,” he added.
He said he also walked about 10 to 15 kilometres each day, especially to avoid checks in border areas.
“Each day, I stayed at roadside dhabas or in vacant places where truckers stopped to sleep. Then again the journey would start. Most of the truckers from whom I sought lifts did not charge me money. During the entire journey, I was not caught by police even once. Otherwise, I would have had to stay in quarantine in those states. I was happy to return home, but am yet to meet my wife and three children,” Ram Vir said.
He said he worked as supervisor at construction sites and was engaged in supervising the drill machines at a site in Davanagere, Karnataka.
After he reached Loni around 4pm on April 26, the man went to a hospital for a checkup and the doctors finally sent him to the nearest police post from where he was taken to the quarantine facility.
“The man is stable and has no symptoms of Covid-19 but we have got him admitted to our Asra-2 quarantine facility in Tronica City. When we spoke to him, he told us about his journey from Karnataka to Loni. We also have a 32-year-old man, Nehruddin in quarantine who undertook a similar journey from Hyderabad, Telangana. He too is stable and reached Loni on April 27,” Dr Rajesh Teotia, superintendent of Loni’s government community health centre, said.
Nehruddin he worked in a company that installs mobile towers in Hyderabad. The man is a resident of Purana Check Post area in Loni.“He started his journey by foot about 14-15 days ago and reached Loni on April 27,” Praveen, his mother, said.
“Every officer who interacted with these two persons was awed by the determination they showed in reaching their home towns after traversing about 2000km from Telangana and Davanagere. Both are in quarantine and their families have been informed. We are also ensuring that ration and other items of need are given to their families and tat their children are taken care of,” Khalid Anjum, subdivisional magistrate (Loni), said.